Keeping Tomatoes Fresh Longer

Added June 17, 2016 By CarrieLinks may be affiliate or referral links. Full Disclosure

This week, I heard a great tip on storing tomatoes from the America’s Test Kitchen podcast: tomatoes will last longer if you store them with the stem side down, rather than up!

Store them as pictured on the right

According to their test, tomatoes stored with part where the stem was attached up, exposed to air, started spoiling faster than the ones where the stem part was pointed down, with less air flow. Apparently, the part where the stem attaches can allow bacteria to enter, making them spoil faster.

Now I’m completely conjecturing, but I would guess that if you buy tomatoes on the vine, the stem will probably have the same effect as storing them upside down (because it’s blocking air).

I bought a whole bunch of tomatoes at Sprouts and used them to can enchilada sauce for the first time. It was only partly a success – I realized after I’d already started processing the jars that in doubling the recipe, I had forgotten to add enough acid to make up for tomatoes’ not-quite–enough acidity for water bath canning, so I ended up putting the jars in my refrigerator and I’ll have to use them within a few months. I also made a huge mess trying to puree it! But once the memory has faded a bit, I’ll probably try it again.